In a review of 148 independent studies, reseachers from the U.S. have shown a link between social relationships and mortality.
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SYDNEY: Having social connections can improve our odds of survival by 50%, deeming a solitary lifestyle just as damaging as obesity, alcoholism and heavy smoking, scientists said.
Based on a review of 148 independent studies, lead researchers Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Timothy Smith from Brigham Young University, Utah, used data collected from 308,849 individuals over more than seven years, to determine how social relationships affected mortality.
“It is remarkable that a few questions about social relationships can predict whether people are alive or dead on average 7.5 years later,” Holt-Lunstad and Smith said.
A solitary lifestyle leads to shorter life
In assessing the level of each individual’s social relationships, the researchers measured them according to their ‘functional’ value – how the supported or lonely the individual felt – and their ‘structural’ value – the individual’s marital status, living situation and the size of their social networks.
They then compared these to the lifespans of the individuals, finding that those with strong social relationships are likely to remain alive longer than similar individuals with poor social relations.
The review, published in PLoS Medicine, legitimises the notion that a lack of social relationships is a risk factor for death, a connection which health organisations have been slow to recognise formally.
Risk not restricted to the elderly or mentally ill
The effect of human interaction on health remained the same, even when the researchers took into account various factors, including age, sex, initial health status and cause of death.
“The association between strength of social relationships did not vary over the lifespan: the effects are consistent regardless of the age of people investigated,” Holt-Lunstad and Smith said.
This means attention to a person’s social situation by health professionals should not be restricted to specific groups such as the elderly or mentally ill, according to the researchers. Treatments for the lonely may include an increased involvement in their community through social groups.
